Chapter 750: Chapter 6 System
Bobby Berman and Rick Adelman, upon hearing the news of Divac’s trade, were in Los Angeles attending a coaching training camp, meeting with college and professional team coaches from across the nation to discuss and learn new basketball tactics and techniques.
This training camp was hosted by coach John Wooden. Gan Guoyang had once attended as a special guest, and each year during the offseason, the elites of the basketball world gather to share coaching experiences and basketball philosophies.
In the camp, Beelman had his first opportunity, as a championship coach, to introduce his coaching philosophy to his peers and predecessors, including his use of advanced data, and his views on spacing, pace, and efficiency.
Beelman’s ideas inspired the renowned coaches, especially his skilled use of mathematical tools to describe player performance and on-court actions, providing everyone with much food for thought.
However, some of his coaching philosophies still seemed unconventional to traditional coaches, such as his lack of emphasis on sharing the ball, his overly strict control of the tempo, and heavy reliance on isolation plays.
His persistent pursuit of three-pointers was something many coaches did not quite understand. Although the expected data from three-pointers is indeed better than that from two-pointers, the instability of three-pointers is evident.
One of the reasons Hornacek was traded was due to the instability of three-pointers, resulting in his subpar performance in the Western Conference Finals and the Finals, even disastrously in some games.
Due to the overall strength of the Trail Blazers and Ah Gan’s extraordinary ability to cover weaknesses, the Trail Blazers seized the championship in 1990 with overwhelming force.
In fact, in the Finals, the Trail Blazers’ backcourt duo was completely outmatched against Thomas + Dumars, and Porter and Hornacek couldn’t suppress their adversaries on either end of the court.
Only because of the Trail Blazers’ significant advantage in the frontcourt, with Ah Gan single-handedly overpowering Ma Hong, Melvin Turpin, Salley, Rodman, and Lan Bi’er, and scoring 50 points to win the deciding game, did they secure the championship.
Thus, it is no surprise that at the training camp, a coach pointedly remarked: "Bobby, although your ideas are innovative, they currently don’t seem to have universal applicability, because not every coach has an Ah Gan, and there’s only one Ah Gan."
Indeed, without Ah Gan, Beelman has not truly proven himself.
At Gonzaga, he made his name with precise defense and control over defensive details.
Beelman does not mind that his success is predicated on having Gan Guoyang.
Likewise participating in the camp, Jack Ramsey defended Beelman: "When you have a player like Ah Gan, failing to maximize his capabilities as a coach is a failure."
During the break at the training camp, Beelman, Adelman, and Jack Ramsey discussed how to further exploit Ah Gan’s potential and areas they could "squeeze" more out of him.
Later, they received news of the Trail Blazers and Celtics trade, with Hornacek and Divac being sent to the Boston Celtics, while the Trail Blazers received Reggie Lewis and Pinkney.
Jack Ramsey said, "Jerry West has found a replacement for Drexler for the Trail Blazers."
Bobby Berman thought to himself that if Reggie Lewis and Pinkney came to the Trail Blazers, the team’s defense would definitely be strengthened next season, and perhaps they should return to the era of wave defense.
Both predecessors of the Trail Blazers head coach were optimistic about this trade, only Adelman repeatedly shook his head, saying, "Trading Vlade and Jeff will be a mistake! Our perfect offense will no longer be perfect."
Adelman, the one who valued Divac most in the Trail Blazers, frequently communicated with him during training and believed Divac had immense potential, perhaps even more suitable than Sabonis to partner with Ah Gan.
Of course, this was Adelman’s personal opinion; from last season’s playoff performance, Sabonis’s defense was something Divac could not match. He significantly relieved Ah Gan’s pressure in protecting the paint in the three-second zone and, as Ah Gan’s substitute on the offensive end, perfectly meshed tactically with the others.
Beelman said, "We will be a team more balanced in offense and defense, and we can again play the wave-style half-court pressing defense from 1987."
Adelman sighed and said, "Basketball is ultimately a game of offense, and I think Vlade is better suited for Ah Gan. If they teamed up, no one could stop the Trail Blazers’ offense."
On Adelman’s thoughts, Beelman had reservations, but still highly respected Adelman and believed there must be worthwhile considerations behind Adelman’s words.
Although Beelman was the head coach of the Trail Blazers and Adelman had a history of "defection," upon his return to the Trail Blazers, Adelman still had significant influence in the coaching team.
This offseason, the Trail Blazers signed two new assistant coaches, expanding the coaching team to four people to further perfect the team’s construction. They were Jack Shaloff and John Wetzell.
The two were the second and third assistant coaches in the team, working mainly under Adelman — they were responsible to Adelman directly, and Adelman was responsible to Beelman.
The reason for establishing such a work structure was because Beelman did not want to exhaust too much energy on coordinating the work of the coaching team, preferring to control the direction.
At the same time, Beelman preferred not to have too close relationships with colleagues, allowing him to issue orders or make some ruthless decisions, as well as enabling him to swear freely.
